Apparatus for assembling casks



Aug. 9, 1966 Filed June 16, 1965 T. W. WOODRUFFE-PEACOCK APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING CASKS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 THOMAS WA IZNEE Woo DIZUFFE-PEACOCK I 5y Wan- $86M I dfiluneunx.

Aug. 9, 1966 T. w. WOODRUFFE-PEACOCK 3,265,105

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING CASKS Filed June 16, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 THOMAS WARNER wooor z urns pe cocl-q mamyl wun 59mm Aug- 9, 9 'r. w. WOODRUFFE-PEACOCK 3,265,105

APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING CASKS Filed June 16, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 THOMAS WARNER wooolzucpe-peAcocK A TTOE/VGXS United States Patent 3,265,105 APPARATUS FUR ASSELING CASKS Thomas W. Woodruiie-Peacock, Wilmslow, England,

assignor to Wiiliarn Grant 8.: Sons Limited, Dufitown, Scotland, a limited-liability company of Great Britain Fiied June 16, 1%5, Ser. No. 464,362 Claims priority, application Great Britain, June 30, 1964, 26,941/64 Ciaims. (Cl. 1474) This invention relates to apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks and has for its primary object the provision of apparatus which will simplify and speed up the assembly and production of casks.

According to this invention there is provided apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks which comprises in combination a concave cradle located substantially centrally between two ends supports which are adjustable towards and away from the cradle, the latter being adapted to support the staves of approximately one trough-like half of the cask by their bilges, and the end supports being adapted to support the ends of the staves forming the remaining half of the cask, a clamping device associated with said cradle adapted to be temporarily tightened around the bilge, said cradle being supported for vertical adjustment and also so that it can be turned to direct the ends of an assembly of staves to truss hoopreceiving positions at right angles to their position of assembly, and means for drawing in each set of ends of the assembled stave when turned to said truss hoopreceiving positions comprising wires or cables which can be coiled around the two sets of ends of the staves and then tightened.

Preferably, hydraulic or pneumatic rams are provided for moving the end supports towards and away from said cradle and also for raising the cradle to a required height and for tensioning the wires or cables coiled around the two ends of the assembled staves when the latter are turned at right angles to their assembly position.

After the truss hoops have been roughly positioned over the two ends of the cask the cradle can be turned back to it 'initial position and the end supports moved towards the ends of the cask to engage presser elements on said support with the truss hoops to urge the latter into a required position.

To enable the invention to be clearly understood a preferred embodiment there of will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view,

FIGURE 3 i a view taken on the line III-III of FIGURE 1 and drawn to a larger scale.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing clamping means associated with the cradle and intended to be engaged around the bilge of a cask,

FIGURE 5 is a purely diagrammatic view showing how the support plates may be utilised for pressing the truss hoops on to the ends of a cask, and

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view illustrating a modification.

Referring to the said drawings, the apparatus comprises any suitable form of end frames 1 which support and are bridged by a pair of rails 2 on which are slidably mounted a pair of barrel positioning plates 3 whereby each plate 3 may be adjusted towards or away from a concave cradle 4 which is supported by vertically slidable guide bars 5 on a turn table 6 which permits the cradle to be turned in a horizontal plane through 90 from its illustrated position so that the ends of the staves of a partly assembled barrel are directed from opposite Patented August 9, 1966 sides of the apparatus a indicated in chain-dotted outline for a purpose hereinafter explained.

Each of the plates 3 is moved along the rails 2 by a pair of hydraulic rams 7 operating in hydraulic cylinders 8. This sliding of the plates 3 permits the apparatus to be adjusted to suit different lengths of barrels.

The cradle 4 is adapted to be raised and lowered to facilitate fixing of hoops to difierent diameters of barrels by means of a hydraulic jack 9 mounted on the turn table 6.

When assembling a set of staves, a lower trough-like half of the cask is first assembled by supporting these staves at the bilge of the cask in the cradle 4 with the ends of the staves contacting the inner faces of the endv supports or plates 3. Prior to this one half 10 of a clamping ring or band is placed in the cradle 4. When assembling these particular staves, the bung stave (that is the stave with the bung hole) i placed in position over the lower dead centre part of the cradle 4 and the lower half 19 of said clamping band.

The remaining staves forming the other half of the cask are then placed in position by supporting their ends on arcuate supporting ledges 11 and ends of the staves between the two trough-like halves are engaged between the supporting ledges 11 and outer arcuate guides 12.

When this has been done an upper half 13 of the clamp ing band i connected at its ends to the ends of the lower half 16 of said band. Conveniently, the meeting ends of the two halves of the band are formed with complementary socket portions 14 which, when interengaged, are secured together by pins 15. This upper half of the clamping band comprises two portions 16 and 17 which overlap one another and are adapted to be slid one relatively to the other by a tightening device 18.

As the cradle 4 can be raised to an infinite number of different heights by means of the hydrauli lifting jack 9 it is possible for an operator to reach any size of cask.

After the parts of the clamping band 12 have been tightened around the bilge of the assembled staves, the

' end plates 3 are slid away from the ends of the staves by operating the hydraulic rams 7 and the cradle 4 with the assembly of staves can be turned horizontallythrough to the position indicated in chain-dotted lines in FIGURE 2, so that the two sets of ends of the staves are directed respectively one set from each side of the apparatus. This turning movement is permitted by the turntable 6 and the latter is preferably controlled by a spring-loaded stop or other suitable means which positively but yieldingly or releasably retains the turntable and the cradle in either of their two alternative positions.

The ends of the staves at each side of the apparatus are now acted upon to draw them in so that truss hoops may be fitted to each end of the partly formed cask.

The means for drawing in the ends of the casks comprises, at each side of the apparatus, a cask embracing wire or cable 19 which can be coiled around an adjacent end of a cask 20 and then tightened by hydraulic rams 21 to draw in the ends of the staves to permit truss hoops to be roughly positioned thereon.

After the hoops have been engaged over the two ends of the cask 20, the cables can be slackened and removed by further operating the hydraulic rams 21 and the cask can be swung back on the cradle 4 to it initial position shown in FIGURE 1 and the support plates 3 can be utilized as a means for pressing the truss hoops further on to the ends of the cask 20.

As indicated quite diagrammatically in FIGURE 5, each of the supports 3 may be fitted or formed with arcuate presser elements 22 which are aligned with the roughly positioned truss hoops 23 so that by sliding the plates 3, by actuating their rams 7, towards the end of the cask 20, the presser elements 22 engage the truss hoops 23 and press the hoops further on to the cask so that the hoops are forced into required positions.

After the truss hoops 23 have been forced on by the presser elements 22, the bilge clamp is unscrewed and unbolted and the upper half 13 is removed. The supports 3 are then moved away from the ends of the cask and the cradle is turned through 90 and the cask held together by the four truss hoops is taken from the machine and conveyed to apparatus with which the present invention is not concerned and which comprises steaming heads for softening and swelling the wood after which the croze is machine-cut at each end of the cask and the head pieces fitted and the truss hoops removed and replaced by normal hoops.

The bottom half of the bilge clamp never leaves the cradle in which it lies loosely so that it is free to adapt itself to different diameters of barrel when under screw tension. This obviates use of overhead conveyor and return of heavy bilge clamps to the machine. As about to be explained lifting eyes may be used to lift up the. top half of the bilge clamp directly above the machine on a counterweighted device which. will relieve the operator of heavy work and will hold the top half of the bilge clamp in a convenient position for rapid reassembly. Referring lastly to FIGURE 6 the top half of the bilge clamp comprising the parts 16 and 17 are suspended above the machine, when disconnected from the lower half of the bilge clamp, by a lifting and lowering cable 25 passing around a suspension pulley 26 and a guide pulley 27 and connected at its free end to a counterbalance weight 28. The machine which is exactly the same as that illustrated by FIGURE 1 is not included in FIGURE 6 and the suspension pulley 26 is mounted on a tie rod 29 connected across upwardly directed extensions 1a of the side frames 1, the side frame extensions and the tie rod 29 also serving to make the apparatus more robust. This FIGURE 6 also illustrates how the parts 16 and 17 of the bilge clamp and consequently the. lower part 10 of the bilge clamp may be tightened hydraulically by a hydraulic ram 30 provided with fluid feed and exhaust tubes 31 connected to a hydraulic system by way of a control valve 32. Conveniently, the ram 30 is provided with a lifting eye 33 to which the lifting and lowering cable 25 is connected.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the invention provides a single apparatus which enables the staves of a cask to be assembled accurately and truss hoops then fitted in position prior to swelling of the wood and the cutting of the croze and the fitment of the head pieces.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks comprising in combination a concave cradle for supporting the staves of one trough-like half of a cask by their bilges, end supports for supporting the ends of the staves for the remaining trough-like half of the ,cask located one at each side of said cradle, means for adjusting and moving each of said end supports towards and away from the cradle, a clamping device for temporarily tightening around the bilge of assembled staves, means for adjusting said cradle vertically, means for turning the cradle in a horizontal plane to position the assembled staves at right angles in truss hoop-receiving positions, cables for coiling around the two sets of ends of the staves, and means for tightening said cables for drawing in each set of stave ends.

2. Apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks comprising in combination a concave cradle for supporting the staves of one trough-like half of a cask by their bilges, end supports having ledges for supporting the ends of the staves for the remaining trough-like half of the cask located one at each side of said cradle, rams for adjusting and moving each of said end supports towards and away from the cradle, a clamping device for temporarily tightening around the bilge of assembled staves, a ram for adjusting said cradle vertically, a turntable for turning the cradle in a horizontal plane to position the assembled staves at right angles to truss hoopreceiving positions, cables for coiling around the two sets of ends of the staves, and rams for tightening said cables for drawing in each set of stave ends.

3. Apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks comprising in combination a concave cradle for supporting the staves of one trough-like half of a cask by their bilges, end supports for supporting the ends of the staves of the remaining trough-like half of the cask located one at each side of the cradle, guide rails along which said supports are slidably mounted, rams for adjusting and sliding said end supports along said rails towards and away from the cradle, a clamping device for temporarily tightening around the bilge of assembled staves, a ram for adjusting said cradle vertically, guide rails for guiding said cradle during its vertical displacement, a turntable for turning the cradle in a horizontal plane to position assembled staves at right angles in trussreceiving positions, stop means associated with said turntable for locating the latter in either of its two alternative positions, cables for coiling around the two sets of ends of the staves, and rams for tightening said cables for drawing in each set of stave ends.

4. Apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks comprising in combination a concave cradle for supporting the staves of one trough-like half of a cask by their bilges, end supports for supporting the ends of the staves of the, remaining trough-like half of the cask located one at each side of the cradle, guide rails along which said end supports are slidably mounted, rams for adjusting and sliding said end supports along said rails towards and away from the cradle, a clamping device having releasable sections for temporarily tightening around the bilge of assembled staves, a ram for adjusting said cradle vertically, guide rails for guiding said cradle during its vertical displacement, a turntable for turning the cradle in a horizontal plane to position assembled staves at right angles in truss-receiving positions, stop means associated with said turntable for 10- eating the latter in either of its two alternative positions, cables for coiling around the two sets of ends of the staves, rams for tightening said cables for drawing in each set of stave ends, and arcuate presser elements on said end supports for engagement with truss hoops positioned on said cask for forcing said truss hoops further onto the cask into required positions.

5. Apparatus for assembling and applying truss hoops to casks as claimed in claim 4, wherein the clamping device having releasable sections comprises a lower semicircular section which engages in the cradle, and an upper semi-circular section consisting of two overlapping arcuate parts slidable one relatively to the other to tighten the device about the staves, a ram for sliding said arcuate parts relatively to one another, a lifting mechanism for raising said upper semi-circular section away of the lower semi-circular section when the two sections are released, said lifting mechanism comprising a cable passing around guide rollers and connected at one end to the upper section and a counter balance weight connected to the other end of the cable.

No references cited.

GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER, 1a., Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR ASSEMBLING AND APPLYING TRUSS HOOPS TO CASKS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION A CONCAVE CRADLE FOR SUPPORTING THE STAVES OF ONE TROUGH-LIKE HALF OF A CASK BY THEIR BILGES, END SUPPORTS FOR SUPPORTING THE ENDS OF THE STAVES FOR THE REMAINING TROUGH-LIKE HALF OF THE CASK LOCATED ONE AT EACH SIDE OF SAID CRADLE, MEANS FOR ADJUSTING AND MOVING EACH OF SAID END SUPPORTS TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM THE CRADLE, A CLAMPING DEVICE FOR TEMPORARILY TIGHTENING AROUND THE BILGE OF ASSEMBLED STAVES, MEANS FOR ADJUSTING SAID CRADLE VERTICALLY, MEANS FOR TURNING THE CRADLE IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE TO POSITION THE ASSEMBLED STAVES AT RIGHT ANGLES IN TRUSS HOOP-RECEIVING POSITIONS, CABLES FOR COILING AROUND THE TWO SETS OF ENDS OF THE STAVES, AND MEANS FOR TIGHTENING SAID CABLES FOR DRAWING IN EACH SET OF STAVE ENDS. 